The site of the Sergey Bubka Stadium is situated 50 kilometres from the capital Belgrade and will be constructed inside the medieval Smederevo Fortress, built in the 15th century when the town was the country's capital.

Bubka remains an icon in the area after his remarkable feats in the pole vault saw him win the world title six consecutive times and break the world record an astonishing 35 times – with no athlete ever having come close to his best height of 6.15 metres, set back in 1993.

The 48-year-old is now one of the most influential sports administrators in the world where he serves as Ukraine National Olympic Committee President, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) vice-president and as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member.

"I am honoured and privileged to have this wonderful new athletics stadium named after me," said Bubka at the special ceremony.

"I hope that the new facilities will create a new generation of elite athletes from Serbia to compete on the world stage.

"I am passionate about promoting the power of sport for young people because I believe that it provides essential life skills such as discipline, respect, determination and focus that can be utilised in other aspects of life.

"Building new modern facilities is the best way to encourage kids and young people to take up sport and thus to promote the ideas of the healthy and harmonious life."


The new stadium's running track is expected to be completed over the next two months with the first national competitions due to take place in July.

The first international event at the venue will take place before the end of the summer.

Bubka's passion for getting young people involved in athletics is well documented.

He was a vocal critic of plans to remove the running track from the Olympic Stadium in Stratford after London 2012 before the idea was scrapped and it was revealed that the track would remain in place after the Games.

Smeredevo Mayor Predrag Umičević (pictured above left) and President of Serbian Athletics Federation Veselin Jevrosimović (pictured above right) accompanied Bubka during the foundation stone ceremony and revealed that the municipality of the town and National Federation will share the construction costs for the venue.


As part of the visit to Serbia, Bubka also visited the Military Academy in Belgrade where the first indoor athletics facility in the country is being built.

He also met Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs Ivica Dačić, whom Bubka praised for contributing to the development of the athletic infrastructure in Serbia.

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